Category: Asia

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There are roughly 50 billion birds in the world but just a few species dominate

Just four birds have a population over a billion, house sparrows European starlings ring-billed gulls and barn swallows.

At the other end, there are over 1180 species with 5000 or less members left.

The last time this survey was done was 24 years ago, the estimate was 200 to 400 billion birds, though it is clear that some of this reduction in numbers will be down to a more accurate survey – still many birds are heading rapidly in the direction of extinction.

The first thing to be done in conservation is to understand the current situation, so this is a great first step. Now the world needs to work hard on conserving what is left – unfortunately this is a rather bigger task. However now we know what needs to be done we merely need to get on with it.

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A logging company based in in Borneo taking a bizarre action

The company in question, which has no rights to do any logging, is now suing the longtime inhabitants and owners of land it wants to clear, for trespass.

This is obviously quite peculiar, and a case that should be laughed out of court. The community alleges the company has encroached on community land, has withheld key documents about the certification process, and failed to obtain free, prior and informed consent of affected communities during the certification process. 

This should be very simple, if they have permission and they got it legally without dishonesty they will be able to prove it. All of the evidence would suggest that that is not going to be possible, and therefore they should be laughed out of court, unfortunately that is not likely to happen.

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Delacour’s langur is a critically endangered monkey with just 300 of these remain in the wild, but now 80% are protected

Delacour’s langur is a severely endangered primate fewer than 300 of these remain in the wild

Delacour Languars are critically endangered, but their future is slightly more secure

What is gratifying about this situation, is that more than 80% of the remaining langurs live within a community reserve that has been set up by the locals being supported by various conservation bodies particularly in Germany.

This reserve has been recognised in an international survey of protected areas that have done the best work for saving wild species.

Indeed it is a perfect example of what can happen with local conservation. 

Indeed it is these sort of projects that we wish to support through the in the shadow of mankind project that we are running on the website.

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Illegal trade in Indonesian leopards is booming

The country of Indonesia consists of many islands. Due to their relative size, these islands have led to many subspecies of animals adapting. 

In the past tigers existed on at least three of these islands. These animals once lived on Java and Bali, but now there is only a small population in Sumatra. 

In Java this leaves the the largest predator population consisting of the leopard – this is why it is so concerning that these leopards are being poached.

Javan Leopards are restricted to the island of Java, so the population is not huge.
Continue reading “Illegal trade in Indonesian leopards is booming”
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Third Sumatran rhino sanctuary moving forwards

The Sumatran rhino is critically endangered. Just a few years ago, the last of the mainland Sumatran rhino died, leaving only the population on Sumatra itself.

Sumatran rhino photo credit Kat Jenkinson

This new sanctuary will be in the Leucer ecosystem, close to where the remaining wild rhinos live.

Much help is needed to reverse the enormous declines in this population which humans have caused – and if this help is not forthcoming in the next few years this ancient species will be lost for good.

It is a good move, but time will tell if it will be good for the Sumatran rhino and its future

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Indonesian government is still fighting to hide bad behaviour

In a judgement handed down in 2017, a court ruled that the Indonesian government must unveil their maps showing what land use has been decided where.

The government is still fighting.

It is odd that they are still fighting. In recent years there have been multiple problems where plantations have seemingly been given permission in areas that are also set aside for nature.

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China must close 600 coal-fired power plants early to hit their own climate target – but this could save money

China has stated that they will peak their emissions by 2030 and hit carbon neutrality by 2060. These targets are just about acceptable in terms of meeting the human races target of holding temperature raise to 1.5 degrees C.

Continue reading “China must close 600 coal-fired power plants early to hit their own climate target – but this could save money”
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Contradiction of wildlife tourism – do not kill the wild natural world while cutting your emissions

The world has an unfortunate problem. In many parts of the world we are successfully reducing our carbon footprint dramatically, through cleaning our electricity generation among other improvements.

Unfortunately, in our current setup, often the only way to pay for conserving the wild places on our planet is by visiting them, and for most people, this requires long-distance flights.

Something we must avoid in more wealthy countries is to simply halt all tourism to wild places. If in order to cut a few tons of carbon from our personal emissions, we remove the reason to conserve a large rainforest in Africa or Asia, can we really blame the locals when it gets cut down? In theory, money does indeed get sent to some of these countries to pay for offsetting our emissions. Unfortunately this rarely reaches people on the ground.

Continue reading “Contradiction of wildlife tourism – do not kill the wild natural world while cutting your emissions”
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Fascinating genetic analysis of African and Asian leopards show worrying fact

Despite the fact that over time I’m many zoos have accidentally or intentionally interbred African and Asian leopards they are actually significantly different.

On the left an African leopard on the right an Asiatic leopard

How different you might ask? The two different cat species are more genetically distinct than the polar bear and the brown Bear!

We need to remember that subspecies of animals evolve separately to be able to cope with local requirements. It is clear that we must save as many species as we can but also subspecies.

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